Movies: Breaking news! Guillermo Del Toro has just announced
that Pacific Rim is officially getting a sequel. (And more comics. And an animated series!) I am soooooooooooo stoked! Bring on
the Jaegers!!

*

Triumphs: So I just finished 1001 Spikes (Vita) a few
minutes ago…

Wow, what a crushingly-hard, patience testing, self-esteem
erasing game. In most levels, death comes in less than a fraction of a second,
and pixel-perfect performance is required to progress through tough spots over
and over again. I’m trying to think of a game I’ve played that was harder, but
I’m not sure anything was. The Extreme levels in Trials or some of the rough
patches in Super Meat Boy come to mind, but it’s possible 1001 Spikes tops them.
Either way, this was some hard shit.

It’s a fantastic game, though. It’s made with the precision
of a Swiss watch, and the challenges are always fair if you know what you’re
doing. Fair definitely does not equate to being easy, but I can only think of
one spot in this 15-to-20 hour experience where I felt like maybe the developer was
pulling a fast one. Quick reflexes and quick thinking are required for success,
but it’s all according to formula -- there aren’t any secrets or tricks here.

If you’re the sort of gamer who doesn’t shy away from a brutal
challenge, 1001 Spikes gets my highest recommendations, for sure. For those who
are curious, here are my stats:

Total playtime – 18 hours, 28 minutes.

Total deaths – 1177.

Average deaths per level – About 19.

Most deaths in a level – 149 deaths in 4-3. Runner up – 132 in
10-4.

Lives remaining at game’s end – 798

Also, major, major props go to @MikeSuskie and
@Boiteabebelles for letting me lean on them when times were hard. They had good
advice when I needed it, and sometimes it was just enough to know that someone else out there felt my pain. And joy.

Games: In other games news, it seems like a whole pile of
things popped up out of nowhere, and I went from having not enough to play to
having too much. It's a good problem to have, to be sure, but it's tough to
find enough time to cover everything that deserves it.

Here are some quick mentions…

Ultra Street Fighter IV. (PS3/360) It's an add-on to the core game that brings
four new characters and a bunch of other stuff. It's been a long time since I
played Street Fighter with any proficiency so it's hard for me to pick up on
all of the nuances, but Poison and Elena have been added to the roster, and in my
book that's a big plus.

Z-Run. (Vita) This is a small game made by a small team that’s an auto-runner similar to Temple Run or One Epic Knight on iOS, except
that it feels a little richer thanks to having actual controls. Basically, you
play as a survivor trying to hoof his way out of the apocalypse, so you're
dodging obstacles and whacking the undead. Or jump-kicking. Jump taking the
undead works too. This one is a great idea, but it seems like it needs a little more time in
the oven. Still, enjoying it in short bursts.

Blue Estate. (PS4) This is an on-rails shooter based on a comic book I'm never
heard of, but it's a pretty interesting -- not only does it work well with the
PS4 controller’s motion functions, it
also looks great and it's got a lot more of a story than you might expect.
Also, whoo boy, is this one for the grown-ups. It’s got loads of salty language and one of the main characters is a stripper named Cherry Popz, so I'll let you
fill in the rest.

Besides those, there've been a few other things that I would’ve liked to get to -- Shovel Knight,
Battle Princess of Arcadias, the State of Decay: Lifeline expansion and the X-Blaze: Code Embryo visual novel among others, but
there are only so many hours in the day and I don't have enough time for what I’ve
already got. Still, some of these might be worth looking into if you have
availability on your own personal gaming agenda…

********************PR/NEWS/INFO********************

NIS America is happy to announce thatFairy Fencer Fwill be available for digital and
physical release for the PlayStation®3 in North America onSeptember 23and in Europe on September 26!

Developed by COMPILE
HEART,Fairy Fencer Fis a turn-based RPG that features
character art by Tsunako (Hyperdimension
Neptuniaseries), as
well as concept art by Yoshitaka Amano and music by Nobuo Uematsu who are both
renowned for their work on the classicFinal Fantasyseries.

Key
Features:

Robust Combat System– Witness the next evolution ofHyperdimension
Neptunia's battle engine! Move your characters in a fully 3-D
environment as you link combos in thrilling turn-based combat! Exploit enemy
weaknesses to trigger Avalanche Attacks and watch your party gang up on
opponents! Send your enemies sky high with Launch Attacks, then follow up with
an Air Attack to send them crashing back to Earth! And if fights get really
tense, simply transform into your upgraded Fury Form and really bring the pain!

Untold Levels of
Customization–
Use the Furies you collect to give your characters powerful abilities, or use
them to customize dungeons to your exact specifications! Need a little more
"oomph!" in your swing? We've got a Shaping Effect for that! Want
some extra experience points after battle? We've got a Shaping Effect for that
too! But what if you're a masochist who wants everyone—allies and enemy alike—to
deal DOUBLE damage? Oh, you best believe we've got a Shaping Effect for that!

Artistic Pedigree– Enjoy the dulcet tones of renowned
composer Nobuo Uematsu, the composer for many of theFinal Fantasytitles. With character designs by
Tsunako (Hyperdimension
Neptunia) and Yoshitaka Amano (Final
Fantasy I-VI), the line between cute and menacing has never been
more blurred!